Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter euphorically about the unbelievable ending of the World Baseball Classic, from Japan’s semifinal game against Mexico, to the climactic showdown between Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout in the USA-Japan final, to what made the whole WBC such a success. Then (52:02) they close the book on meeting major leaguers from 2022 by talking to James Bailey, author of Major League Debuts: 2023 Edition, about his new series of annual books about every player who makes the majors, his process for researching rookies, whether there are too many major leaguers, and 2022 debutants Jason Delay, Ben DeLuzio, and Donny Sands, followed by a Stat Blast (1:24:15) about Ichiro Cano and the highest-WAR combined baseball names, plus a Past Blast (1:33:14) from 1984.

Audio outro: The Sun, “In Perfect Time”

Link to Zach Kram on the WBC

Link to Ben on the WBC

Link to Ohtani pitch grade stat

Link to Trout-Ohtani video

Link to Japanese broadcast call

Link to 120 percent quote

Link to more than 100 percent wiki

Link to Arozarena trash talk

Link to Ohtani trash talk

Link to Ohtani’s speech

Link to Arozarena HR robbery

Link to Arozarena autographing

Link to Randy autographing again

Link to Sasaki candy story

Link to Yoshida homer

Link to Murakami walkoff

Link to Ohtani double

Link to WBC press release

Link to All-Tournament Team

Link to Meet a Major Leaguer wiki

Link to book website

Link to buy the book

Link to B-Ref’s new debuts page

Link to Ichiro Cano post

Link to Ryan Nelson’s Twitter

Link to Stat Blast data

Link to 1984 Past Blast source

Link to 1984 Past Blast source, cont’d

Link to EW on Florida baseball books

Link to David Lewis’s Twitter

Link to David Lewis’s Substack

Link to EW on RSNs

Link to local-revenue article

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